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Deprescribing – All You Never Knew About It
So, what is deprescribing? According to deprescribing.org, it’s the planned and supervised process of dose reduction or stopping of medication that might be causing harm, or no longer be of benefit. Deprescribing is part of good prescribing – backing off when doses are too high, or stopping medications that are no longer needed. We often hear patients and caregivers on their behalf talk about the many medications they are on. They wonder if it’s really helping or potentially hurting. This is where a certified professional comes in to help people assess the possibilities. Passionate thought-leader DeLon Canterbury, founder/CEO of GeriatRx, is an example of such a person and we are thrilled to have him as a guest on this episode of Caregiving Insights with Todd…
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Patient Assistance Programs & Drug Trials: Explained
These topics are often misunderstood or not at all. Other than having heard of patient assistance programs and drug trials, to what extent do caregivers and patient advocates (or anyone for that matter) know what they are all about? Learning and understanding the intricacies can greatly benefit patients, caregivers and patient advocates in many ways. Check out the outline below of what’s talked about in this episode of Caregiving Insights, where Todd “TJ” Keitz chats with Debra Alper. Over 25 years, Debra gained vast strategic marketing, strategic portfolio analysis, new product planning and commercialization experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including most recently as Director, Global Strategic Marketing, Hematology, at Johnson & Johnson. Four years ago she created Alper Consulting Group, which partners with early development…
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An Alzheimer’s Caregiver Journey
Per the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 6.5 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2022. That means of the total U.S. population, about 1 in 9 people (10.7%) age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s dementia. The numbers will rise significantly over the coming decade, as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. That means more caregivers will be needed and family members will often take on that role. How are they going to handle all that comes along with it? In this episode of Caregiving Insights, Todd “TJ” Keitz chats with Jillian McCleary. Jill left her career behind as the Director of The University of Arizona Art Museum to care full-time for her mother. The conversation packs a lot into…
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Practical Tips for Caregivers & Patient Advocates
Episodes 10 and 11 contain a chock full of practical tips! I’m thrilled to be joined by Laurette Foggini, as she draws on her extensive experience on the administrative side of caregiving and patient advocacy, combined with her subsequent (and current) journey with her mom. Part 1 explores topics such as developing care plans, caregiving from a distance, transitioning to being physically present, importance of the Power of Attorney (why, and when it’s not enough), and more! Part 2 explores topics such as addressing sibling responsibilities, effects of prognosis and changes to it, travel for self-care, decisions about home care and hospice, acceptance and adapting, sons stepping into these care roles, senior fitness and more! We hope you find this conversation interesting and informative! That…
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Self-Care for Caregivers: The Power of Reiki
In this 25-minute episode of Caregiving Insights, I chat with Sovan Purkait. We explore what led to his first Reiki experience, believing in its healing effects, and subsequently co-founding The Rainbow Miracle with his partner. The first half of the episode explores Sovan’s journey and “what is Reiki”, then we delve into the benefits to caregivers and other healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, etc. Based in India and the largest virtual Reiki practice in that country, this endeavor aims to help people around the world — virtually. I’m grateful to Sovan for his time and insights, and hope you find this conversation interesting and informative! ———————————— Todd “TJ” Keitz has been primary caregiver/patient advocate since June 2018 for his two parents, who each are faced…
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Patient Advocacy: Considerations from a Patient & Advocate
I’m thrilled to have Amos Odeleye-Ajakaye as a guest on Caregiving Insights. In this episode, I explore with Amos his journey from Nigeria to the United States, and from healthcare professional to being a patient. As a healthcare professional, Amos knew a lot about advocacy and caregiving. Once he became a patient, his knowledge went to a whole different level. This episode explores many facets of patient advocacy and there’s lots of helpful insight…whether you are an advocate, patient, caregiver, or healthcare professional. In fact, anyone can benefit from understanding more about advocacy and how to support loved ones, friends and colleagues along their healthcare journeys. We are grateful to Amos for his time and insights! We hope you find this conversation interesting and informative!…
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Caregiving: from blog to podcast (and soon an app)
It’s been a bit over a year since 1 Day 1 Week launched. I set out to share personal stories of my caregiving journey with my parents, in the hope it would resonate for and help many other people. From the feedback I continue to receive about the posts, I’m proud to say that goal was accomplished. Along the way, I realized a few things: 1) blogging takes a lot of time, if you’re doing “right” — considering the writing, re-writing, editing, posting, promotion, and so on. 2) while there are many people who still love reading blogs, there are infinitely more that would rather listen to or watch an interactive discussion about a topic — especially when it comes to caregiving. 3) taking into…
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Patient Advocacy: Considerations from a Patient & Advocate
Recently, Todd was thrilled to be a podcast guest of Tracey Welson-Rossman, founder of Journal My Health and Joyce Yaccarino Griggs, founder of United States of Healthcare. The discussion touches on many topics, including defining the difference between caregiving and patient advocacy, staying organized, family conversations, documentation, reaching out for help, patient bill of rights, and more.
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Caregiving & Employer Support: What does it look like?
As summer approaches, we hope this message finds you and your loved ones well…or well cared for and as comfortable as possible. We understand the ebbs and flows of caregiving! After a hiatus due to family caregiving responsibilities, we’re back in the saddle with what will be a combination of blog posts (albeit sometimes more brief than past) and episodes on our YouTube channel, Caregiving Insights. Oh, and stay tuned for later this year a soft launch of our new platform that enables caregivers to uniquely connect with each other! For now… …consider the following: 10,000 baby boomers a day have turned 65 after 2010 and by 2030 all boomers will be at least that age. That’s a very large number of people who are entering…
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Time: Continues to fly by — literally & figuratively
Since my previous post in late January, I’ve been on 15 flights from east to west, north to south. Philadelphia, Austin, Oakland and their surrounding areas. Some work. Some play. Lots of delayed purging due to the pandemic. To enable this happen, I first had to get over my concern about traveling during Covid — especially flying. Not easy after essentially being in lockdown for almost two years and having responsibilities for immunocompromised parents. But, if life were to move forward, that needed to be done. Fortunately, I had great inspiration from people in my life who had safely navigated airports, planes, hotels, and more — and continue to take the utmost precautions, especially with mandatory masking on planes no longer in effect. Just as…